Meet the Criminal Justice Team
Kevin Cannon, PhD
Professor and Department Chair
Peck Hall 1206
618-650-3295
kcannon@siue.edu
Dr. Cannon received his doctorate in criminal justice from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His teaching interests focus on the corrections system, capital punishment and international and organized crime. His research has been focused on LGBT issues in criminal justice education, publishing in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education and The Handbook of LGBT Communities, Crime, and Justice.
P. Ann Dirks-Linhorst, PhD, JD
Emerita Professor
Peck Hall 1211
618-650-5694
pdirksl@siue.edu
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Dr. Dirks-Linhorst has expertise in the legal/judicial portions of the course work at SIUE, and is the only faculty to hold both a PhD and a law degree. Prior to joining the faculty, she had a distinguished career in law and policy positions. She served as a Missouri Assistant Attorney General for 5 years where, among other dockets, she was responsible for the juvenile court docket appearances for her client, the Missouri Department of Mental Health. She became the Forensic Director at the Missouri Department of Mental Health, serving as the liaison between the 115 counties of Missouri’s judicial system and the Department of Mental Health to assure just outcomes for those defendants arrested and charged with crimes but also being identified with possible mental health issues. She later served as Deputy Director for Policy and Program Development where she was responsible for planning, identification of new policy initiatives (housing, sexual predators, elderly drivers, etc.), and then worked with constituent groups to draft and finalize new policy. Dr. Dirks-Linhorst brought this experience, along with her PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice, to share with the SIUE students. She developed the Mental Health in the Criminal Justice System course, a Judicial Process course, and a Criminal Procedure course, while sharing her experience in the classroom when teaching Ethics, and the Rehabilitation and Treatment in Corrections. Her dedication to experiential learning opportunities well serves the students as she works with over 130 students per year to obtain internships with criminal justice agencies. Her scholarship and teaching accomplishments led to her being named the William and Margaret Going Endowed Professor for 2013-2014.
Trish Oberweis, PhD
Professor
Peck Hall 1231
618-650-3292
toberwe@siue.edu
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Dr. Oberweis writes and/or teaches in the areas of drug policy, sexual violence, research methods, law and society, and gender in criminal justice. Her teaching style incorporates connections between our policy goals and the various approaches we take to achieve those goals. Every course she teaches takes some issue or topic and brings in actual policies to examine the connections between what want, what we know and what we do in various attempts to control social problems or create a safer citizenry. Her approach is rooted in the connections between knowledge, power and justice. Dr. Oberweis earned her doctorate in the interdisciplinary field of Justice Studies from Arizona State University, and she brings this interdisciplinary background to bear on each of the policy areas she studies.
Matt Petrocelli, PhD
Professor
Peck Hall 1234
618-650-3296
mpetroc@siue.edu
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Dr. Petrocelli’s academic credentials include a BS from the United States Military Academy (West Point), a Master of Criminal Justice from the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver and a PhD in Justice Studies from Arizona State University. Dr. Petrocelli has conducted extensive research on policing in America, and his studies on racial profiling are considered seminal works in the field. He is the author of three books on policing, one of which, Anatomy of a Motor Vehicle Stop, has been adopted as a police academy text at numerous departments, including the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. His work has been widely published in such influential journals as Justice Quarterly, Police Quarterly, Journal of Criminal Justice, American Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Drug Issues, Journal of Gang Research and Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management. His most recent book, Stop and Frisk Done Right: Understanding the Legal and Practical Parameters of a Terry Stop, examines the controversial law enforcement tactic of stop, question and frisk. His scholarship and teaching accomplishments led to him being named the William and Margaret Going Endowed Professor for 2021-2022.
Erin Heil, PhD
Professor and Graduate Program Director
Peck Hall 1210
618-650-5172
erconle@siue.edu
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Dr. Erin Heil received her PhD in Criminal Justice from the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2008. She has focused her research and teaching on the exploitation of vulnerable populations, and relevant intersections of the law, in the context of labor trafficking, illegal international adoption, trafficking through religion, and sex trafficking of Native people. She has published extensively on the topic of human trafficking, authoring the book Sex Slaves and Serfs, co-authoring Human Trafficking in the Midwest, and co- editing Broadening the Scope of Human Trafficking Research: A Reader, and co-editing Social Work Practice with Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation. She has also published articles in Critical Criminology, Feminist Criminology, Critical Research on Religion, and Contemporary Justice Review.
Dennis Mares, PhD
Professor
Peck Hall 0210
618-650-5118
dmares@siue.edu
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Dr. Mares received his PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and is currently a full professor at SIUE. His research focuses on spatial and temporal aspects of violent offending and has been published in leading interdisciplinary and criminological journals such as the Journal of Urban Health, Environment and Behavior, Climatic Change and the Journal of Experimental Criminology. Dr. Mares works with law enforcement agencies as a Research Partner and assists on grant development and program evaluation of innovative policing approaches. He is also a Subject Matter Expert for the Center of Naval Analyses' (CNA) Smart Policing Initiative (SPI) where he helps Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) grantees develop and apply evidence-based practices in law enforcement.
Ekaterina Gorislavsky, PhD
Associate Professor
Peck Hall 1208
618-650-5894
egorisl@siue.edu
Dr. Gorislavsky’s academic credentials include a Masters in Public Policy Administration (2007) and a PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (2014). Her teaching interests include, but are not limited to, research methods in criminology and criminal justice, quantitative data analysis, victimization rates and trends, victim participation in the criminal justice system, services for victims of crime, and capital punishment. Her area of expertise has to do with sexual victimization of women.
Rachel Cousert, MS
Instructor
Peck Hall 1203
618-650- 3294
rcouser@siue.edu
Cousert received her Master of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2006. Her experience includes working as an adult and juvenile probation officer in Sangamon County, Springfield, from 2007 until 2017. Her particular interests in the field of criminal justice include evidence-based practices in community corrections and high-risk juvenile delinquents. Courses she has taught include Introduction to Criminal Justice, Introduction to Law Enforcement, Introduction to Corrections, Criminal Law, Juvenile Justice, and Community Corrections.
Mary Shimer, MA 
Instructor
Peck Hall 0216
618-650-5712
Shimer enjoyed a 26 year career with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Her career began as a unit secretary at the Federal Correctional Institution in Greenville, Illinois. In 2007, she transferred to the Residential Reentry Office in downtown St. Louis where she worked until retirement. During her time with the Bureau, she worked closely with the U.S. Marshals, United States Courts, United States Probation Office, and local law enforcement agencies. Shimer has extensive experience in Federal law enforcement including incarceration, re-entry, and Federal supervision. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree, Psychology/minor Criminal Justice Studies in 2008 from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, and a Masters of Arts Degree, Criminology and Criminal Justice from University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Deangelo Franklin
Lecturer
618-650-3713
dfrankl@siue.edu
Colleen Vrenick
Office Support Specialist
618-650-3713
cvrenic@siue.edu
Hugh Barlow
Professor Emeritus
